The Christmas Star
by Kindlehope
Summary: As Christmas draws near, Astral questions Yuma of the music, decorations, traditions, and true meaning behind the holiday. When Yuma sees Astral immerse himself in the holiday spirit, he makes a selfless Christmas wish. (Astral discovers Christmas and the traditional holiday staples, a chapter for each thing he learns. Sweet bromance, but yaoi lovers can interpret it as they wish.)
1. Music

Hey there! This is going to be a Christmas fanfiction with around six short chapters that will probably stretch into January, so I'm sorry that it will stretch past Christmas. I didn't get the motivation to write it until a few days ago, and I'm out of practice in writing. But I will try to upload fast! So I learned about Japan's version of Thanksgiving and mentioned a yummy cookie recipe I found on Pinterest. Yum! I hope you all like this chapter and I hope you can bear with me as I finish the others and get back into the flow of writing. Hopefully my writing will become more smooth as I do! Please review, guys!

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December 1st

Yuma Tsukumo walked home from school with Astral by his side. The air was chilly, on cue with the first day of December. This had been his first day of school after the fall break for Kinro Kansha no Hi, Labor Thanksgiving Day. During the break, Astral had admired the harvest decorations through of autumn leaves, pumpkins, cornucopias, and candy corn that most households had set out around their homes. Now, hovering beside Yuma on the walk home from school, he gazed at the shops in wonder as he saw the decorative trees, holly leaves, Christmas houses, and numerous other ordinary Christmas decorations lining the store display windows, frosted with artificial snow flurries.

As customers went in and out the store doors, music could often be heard drifting from the store. Astral didn't recognize any of the songs, and he had never seen decorations like these before. He turned to Yuma as he floated along for an explanation.

"Do these decorations represent a holiday or season like the fall ones did, Yuma?"

Yuma smiled, glancing at them happily as he hummed another song unknown to Astral. "Yeah. December is the month of Christmas, Astral."

"Christmas—I have heard this term before. What is Christmas?" the spirit asked promptly.

Yuma looked at the sky, as if someone was there. "Religiously, it's a day to celebrate the birth of Christ."

"Christ?"

"He's a man that most religions are based around. He atoned for the sins of all mankind thousands of years ago, the only man who was perfect without sin but suffered for everyone else's sins so they could have an afterlife."

Astral blinked. "What?"

Yuma covered his face with his palm, sighing softly. It seemed a hard concept for Astral to grasp, just as it was for a lot of humans. "It's okay, Astral. It's complicated. I'll read to you about it later, okay?" Astral nodded, prompting Yuma to continue.

"_Otherwise_," Yuma continued, "Christmas is a day to give gifts to your loved ones. To share time with family. To celebrate the winter season. It's just a time to show the people you love that you care about them."

Astral looked to be committing this to memory. "It sounds like a nice holiday," he stated. He almost smiled while saying it. "I look forward to experiencing it."

Yuma smiled at his friend. Astral was right—Christmas always _was_ a good holiday. It brought out the best in people and spread a strong love that was often hard to feel from the world.

They had arrived at Yuma's home. The boy pushed the door open and stepped inside, Astral following. "I'm home!" he called, slipping his bookbag off his shoulders and setting it down by the door with his shoes. He was greeted by the smell of chocolate and sound of Christmas music. Peeking inside the kitchen, he saw Akari at the mixer, scraping cookie dough off the side of the bowl with a spatula. She turned toward Yuma and smiled brightly. "Hey!" she replied. Her hair was tied back as always, and she was wearing a festive red apron with green-and-white striped pockets over a green sweater. "I'm just getting in the Christmas spirit! Will you eat some of my cookies when I'm done with them?"

"Absolutely!" Yuma laughed. "What kind are they?"

"Turtle thumbprint cookies!" Akari chirped. "It's a new recipe I'm trying out. It's a chocolate cookie rolled in crushed pecans and filled with caramel in the indent, then with a chocolate drizzle over the top." She motioned with a nod toward the stovetop, where two pots were slowly being heated, and Yuma could smell both caramel and chocolate coming from them. Yuma nearly drooled.

"That sounds sooo good," Yuma confessed. "Be sure to call me when it's done!"

He dashed out of the kitchen and ran upstairs to his bedroom. Astral quickly followed.

As he slid into his bedroom, Yuma realized that Akari had her stereo on in her bedroom, which was pouring out cheerful Christmas music relentlessly. He ignored it and entered his room, only to turn around and notice that Astral wasn't behind him.

Yuma poked his head out the door and saw his friend hesitating at the top of the stairs, gazing toward Akari's room. After a moment, Astral floated off to doorway at the end of the hall. He just hovered there, listening to the music, his right side facing Yuma. Just seconds later, a small smile graced his cheeks. Yuma just watched him.

_He really seems to like this Christmas music_, Yuma observed. The current song playing was _Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas_. Yuma listened to the lyrics along with Astral. It was a good song for Astral to hear. It explained the holiday well. When the song was done, Yuma approached Astral quietly with a small smile.

"It's unlike any music I've heard," Astral remarked, now listening to _Deck the Halls_. "It's so…cheerful."

"There are other Christmas songs that sound darker," Yuma noted. "You know, ones with minor tunes instead of major tunes. Like _Mary, Did You Know _or _Carol of the Bells_. You'll hear it on the radio soon enough. But they are just as beautiful and Christmas-y as the rest."

Astral nodded. "Thank you, Yuma."

Yuma loved seeing Astral so interested in something. Hopefully the holiday season could be fun for the spirit, too.

The boy smiled at him. "No problem. Do you want to go watch tv with me? There'll be Christmas music on for the next twenty-four days."

"Alright." Astral hesitated, letting the song finish playing through the speakers, and then turned and followed Yuma to his bedroom.


	2. Gifts

_I wanted to post this yesterday so I could say, "Christmas in July!" ...but I worked for most of the day and then went to a baseball game with my family. I didn't have time before bed to publish this._

_This fanfic will revolve around Astral learning about the important aspects of Christmas. What he's learned will be referenced in other chapters. And I can promise that the last three chapters will be very adorable. :)_

_As a note, Yuma seems to have some affectionate moments and thoughts toward Kotori. Though I won't be focusing on Skyshipping in this story, I found those moments fun to put in, even if I'm not much of a Skyshipper myself. *shrugs* **Please review, buddies!**_

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By the end of classes, Yuma was hunched over his desk, elbow on the surface, resting his head in his hand with an utterly bored expression. He'd been that way for most of the school day, which wasn't uncommon. As the bell rang, Kotori sprang out of her seat and glanced over at Yuma.

"Hey, Yuma!" She smiled. "I was thinking of stopping by the mall not too far from here and browsing for Christmas presents for my family. Wanna come?"

Yuma lifted his head and looked up at her. For the colder weather, she had started wearing black fleece tights and soft gray boots with her school skirt, and a pink cardigan indoors with a green winter coat for outdoors. It was a cute look. Yuma redirected his thoughts toward her question. "Oh, the mall? You mean shopping? Uhh…" Yuma internally sighed. He hated shopping, especially when Akari dragged him to the mall and then felt the need to explore every store whether she needed something there or not. He assumed all girls were like that, Kotori included, and he didn't want to be wandering aimlessly for hours.

The Emperor's Key gleamed; Astral appeared at Yuma's side. "Yuma, you should go," he advised. "It is the kind thing to do. Also, I would like to see what the mall looks like."

"Huh?" Yuma turned his head toward Astral with a puzzled expression. "You've been before. Why do you want to see what it looks like again?"

Astral tilted his head a bit. "Was I wrong to assume that the mall would be decorated as festively as the city streets currently are?"

"Oh." Yuma remembered how intrigued Astral had been by the Christmas decorations and lights gracing the storefronts along the city streets. "No, you're right. They decorate the mall too." Astral sure was interested in the concept of Christmas. A small part of Yuma wanted to grant him as much Christmas as possible. He liked seeing the wonder in Astral's eyes, hearing the curious questions, and knowing that Astral was enjoying himself while exploring the concept of this holiday.

Yuma looked back at Kotori, smiling a bit at the thought of pleasing Astral. "Sure, Kotori. We'll come."

Astral smiled a bit. "You said 'we'. That was cute. You included me in your plans."

Yuma's eyes narrowed a bit. He felt embarrassed about thinking that and felt a blush coming on, but he covered himself by saying, "Oh, you can just stay in the Key for all I care." Astral just barely smiled, noticing Yuma's stubbornness.

Yuma rose from his seat and smiled at Kotori. "Alright, let's get going."

Astral emerged from the Key again the moment they stepped inside the mall. All three of them gazed around the area and glanced up at the floors above. There was shimmery silver and red garland arching from the balconies and twirling around the staircase railings, intertwined with red Christmas lights. In the center of the first floor there was a huge, bushy artificial tree with red, green, and silver ornaments, strung with strands of colorful garland and a network of bright white lights. The branches were frosted silvery-white.

A smile spread over Kotori's face, and she even laughed in her wonder. "It's so beautiful!" she exclaimed, admiring the lights and decorations.

Astral glided up to Yuma's side. Even Astral had a smile on his face. Yuma glanced over toward him. He could see Astral's eyes twinkling from the lights around them, and seeing him in awe put a smile on Yuma's face as well. Such a large smile was rare from Astral.

Yuma was glad they had been stubborn in opening up to Astral and accepting his help. And he liked to keep up that appearance even now, but Astral had long caught on that Yuma truly cared for him and appreciated his help. Yuma understood Astral, and vice versa.

Realizing he was staring at Astral and wearing too fond of a smile, Yuma shook his head to refocus himself and toss away a strange feeling rising in his chest.

"All the worthwhile stores are upstairs." Kotori jogged toward the escalators with a hop in her step, twirling around cutely with a flick of her skirt to urge Yuma on. "Come on, Yuma!"

Yuma smiled and picked up his pace to reach her. Astral followed, turning his head to stare at the large decorative tree as they passed it. He wondered what it was for. Astral glanced at Yuma to see that he and Kotori had stepped onto the moving stairs and had entered a conversation. He made a mental note to ask Yuma about the tree later and rushed forward to meet Yuma's side.

"I want to buy my mom a bracelet or some earrings," Kotori informed as she browsed the tables and display cases of jewelry. Yuma trudged along behind, his energy having dropped the moment they entered the store. He had had fun in the electronics store, and they had visited the candy shop and purchased themselves some sweets that they now carried in bags. But they had made it to the jewelry store, one of Yuma's least favorites.

The jewelry was pretty to look at, but he could only hold so much attention toward something he had no use for himself. Remembering Kotori's gratitude when he agreed to tag along, however, Yuma took a deep breath, lightened his step, and feigned interest, looking into the displays and black boxes along with Kotori.

"My mom always gets me great gifts," Kotori went on. "Now that I've saved a bit from babysitting the kids next door, I want to return the favor. I'm going to find her a great gift too."

"Yuma." Astral approached the boy's side, having been trailing behind him as usual. "What purpose do gifts hold at this time of the year?"

Yuma stopped beside Kotori at another long display case and turned toward Astral. "People give each other gifts near Christmas Day," he explained. "It's a way of showing you care about each other, and it's fun. You exchange gifts with those you're close to and love, like friends and family members."

Astral nodded, looking intrigued. "So you could give a gift to your sister, or Tetsuo, or Kotori."

"Yep. And gifts can be anything. A sweet, something handmade, an electronic, something bought, whatever." Yuma sighed. "Still, it's hard to think of what to get who. You need to get them something they'll like!"

Astral got in a "thank you" to Yuma before Kotori leaned over the display case with her hands on the glass, growing visibly excited. "Aww! There's that necklace I've always wanted, and on sale!"

Yuma followed her eyes to look at a silver heart necklace with a hollow center and a thick solid rim encrusted with small white crystals all over. It was beautiful. The crystals must not have been real, because although not cheap, the necklace wasn't very expensive. Yuma saw the longing in Kotori's excited eyes and asked, "If you've always wanted it, why not buy it now?"

Kotori sighed gently, pulling back from the glass as her excitement faded to just a sad smile. "Even on sale, I don't have enough money to get it and afford gifts for my parents too." She held her hands behind her back, attempting to look casual. "Too bad my mom doesn't shop here. I'd love it as a gift, but I don't want to tell her exactly what to get me. It seems wrong to do that." Kotori glanced sideways at Yuma and tried her best to keep her words calm but also hinting. "If only there was someone else who could gift me with it. But that's okay. It'll still be on sale for New Year's, I'm sure, if it's still here." She turned to Yuma with bright eyes again. "Well, I'll only be a few more minutes, Yuma," she remarked. "We can head home soon." She turned and ventured off to view the last of the unexplored jewelry.

Yuma watched her go, an eyebrow raised in obvious confusion. "Girls make no sense. Even if it _is _still here at New Year's, she won't have money by then to buy it."

"Yuma." The boy looked at Astral, who seemed eager to tell him something. "Yuma, it seems Kotori wishes for you to 'gift' her with this necklace."

"Huhhh?" Yuma became flustered, shaking his head in denial. "No way. She doesn't expect me to do that!"

"But she said—"

"That's not what she meant." A pout placed itself on Yuma's lips, but it couldn't hide the small blush creeping over his cheeks as he turned away from Astral.

Astral bowed his head while closing his eyes, sighing at Yuma's ignorance. _It seems Yuma still does not understand the female brain_, he noted in defeat, referencing the similar eleventh observation he had made a few months ago.

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**_Not very important learning for Astral in this chapter. But I am very excited for the next one, where Astral learns about Christmas trees! Please review!_**


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